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Re: [WORSHIP] Christmas Ideas for Small Churches

Kelly Dodge wrote:

> No offense to Joe, or to anyone else out there, but does anyone really
> see much of a benefit to Christmas/Easter productions?


I do.  I see two things that are a benefit.  

1.  Adrian Rogers, pastor of Bellvue Baptist Church in Memphis, has said
that their Christmas pageant is the single most effective evangelism
tool they have.  Many people will come to a Christmas or Easter program
that will never otherwise darken the doors of a church.  I have found
this to be true at our church as well.  For several years, before money
got a little tight, we did a large production at Christmas that was
geared toward two things: lifting up and glorifying the Savior and
sharing the Gospel in dramatic terms.  The second year we did that
production, we saw 37 people profess Christ as their personal Lord and
Savior at the close of the performances.  We've had many crusades and
revivals where we haven't experienced that kind of fruit.  And I must
tell you, that in the final scene of that show, when Jesus returns to
heaven and takes His place on His throne (not my scripting, but rather a
vision that God gave to our then Minister of Music, Phil Ferguson), God
came down.  It was one of the most worshipful experiences I have ever
been a part of.

2.   In the Old Testament (not one dot or iota of which will pass away
until all has been fulfilled) God commanded His people to commemorate
yearly the great and mighty deeds that He had done for them.  Obviously
the Feast of the Passover was chief among these.  At other times He had
them commemorate a particular victory He had given them by building an
altar on the location.  It is clear:  God wants us to remember the
wonderful things He has done for us.  And the most wonderful of all is,
of course, sending His Son to die for our sins.  So it is appropriate
that at two different times of the year--the birth and the death and
resurrection of our Savior--we do something extra special in
remembrance.  The purpose is three-fold:  to honor Him for it, to keep
it alive in our minds, and to pass the remembrance of it on to new
generations of believers.  Of course the Lord's (or Last, depending upon
your denomination) Supper is such a remembrance, one that He commanded
us to do.  But isn't it nice to do something because we want to and not
just because we were ordered to do so?  

Personally I see the value in two different types of productions, and
not much in between.  Either the small, unpretentious program that
serves as a commemoration for your own church or the huge, well produced
program that brings in the outsider and shares the Gospel in the
compelling sort of way that only musical theatre can.  The choice is
determined by the emphasis of your church and by your resources.

As for the specific cons put forth, I have answers for all of those.

1.  Quality.  Unfortunately, you're all too right.  Frankly, I hate
church drama.  But you can't blame a person for doing their best.  The
contemporary Church has avoided the arts like the plague.  Most church
folk are quite frankly amateurs when it comes to theatre.  But many
churches are really working on this.  It has been a major effort on my
part at my church to convince everyone that what they're getting is not
as good as they could get.  That's the first step; the second is
training.  This is hard to do with volunteers who are usually already
overworked (why is it that in so many churches it is the same people who
seem to to everything?)  But if we can pursue excellence in music, we
can pursue it in drama, too.  And nobody gets good at anything until
they've spent some time being bad at it.

2.  Time.  Tell me about it.  As the designated "jack of all trades,
master of none" at my church, I get to do orchestrations, set design and
construction, script writing, program and logo design, designing and
focusing lights, orchestra rehearsal, and on occasion acting, stage
direction, and even choreography.  But I don't mind.  And the people who
volunteer don't seem to either.  If we end up with a good production, it
always seems to be worthwhile for practically everyone involved.  My
pastor, Preston Nix (one of my favorite people in the world) says that
ministry is spelled "w-o-r-k."  I agree.

3.  Stress.  We have taken do doing our Christmas program a little
early--usually about the second weekend in December.  That way we get it
over with and we all enjoy our holidays.

4., 5.  Attendance and Message.  I have to disagree to both.  The last
year that we did our big production, we had a total of about 2600 people
attend.  We don't have an incredibly large auditorium.  We had standing
room only for two performances.  For dress rehearsal, we invited the
homeless from our local Christian shelter, fed them dinner, and let them
watch the dress.  As I said above, that year we had 37 professions of
faith.  It was an extremely evangelistic production.  I was the author
on that script.  I simply recalled all the reasons I used to give for
not trusting Jesus.  Then I wrote sections of dialog debating each of
those reasons and rebuffed them with the answers that I have found to be
true since I became a Christian.  God blessed my meager playwriting
abilities and gave us 37 souls.  To God be the glory!

I have not intended here to be arugmentative, only to share my own
experiences.  

With the love only found in Christ,

Rick Averill
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